HIGH SCHOOL NOTEBOOK

Howie Levine, coach of the Grant boys’ team, had some wonderful news delivered to his doorstep Saturday morning.

Poly upset second-place North Hollywood, 54-51, in a Sunset Six League game on Friday night, giving Grant its eighth league title in 13 seasons under Levine.

“I woke up at 6:20 [a.m.] and at 6:30 I got the newspaper,” Levine said. “I looked at it and said, ‘Hmmm.’ Then I went back to sleep . . . with a smile on my face.”

Levine had tried in vain to track down the score of the North Hollywood game last Friday, going to sleep with only dreams of another title.

The Lancers (8-15, 8-0) have a three-game lead with two games to play, including a league finale against North Hollywood (17-6, 5-3) on Friday night.

“It takes the pressure off, but we still have to concentrate on the next two games to get a good seeding [for the City playoffs],” Levine said.

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Nobody is playing basketball below the rim better than the Monroe boys’ team.

The Vikings (17-6, 7-1), with no starter taller than 5 feet 11, kept their Valley Mission League title hopes alive Friday by edging San Fernando, 64-62.

“We’re just so small; they killed us on the boards,” Coach Don Loperena said. “We’re surviving and it’s a tribute to the boys.”

Monroe’s tallest player is 6-1 senior Edwin Crockett, a reserve center.

“When the coach is taller than all the kids, you have a tendency to worry a little bit,” said 6-3 Loperena, a former Santa Clara player.

The Vikings play at first-place Sylmar (12-9, 8-0) in a league finale Friday night. The Spartans sneaked past Monroe, 55-54, on Jan. 26.